"Though disordered and persisting viral infection have recently attracted attention,it is important that immunologists do not deflect attention away from the wider(ie psychiatric) aspects of the chronic fatigue/post viral syndrome"

Senior Member

I have found some of the worst misinformation is in psychiatry and neurology textbooks.
Please peruse these on my amazon homepage and add your own comments to buyers about these books that call us hypochondriacs and malingerers:

However, the majority of patients who complain of chronic fatigue will, in our experience, be found to suffer some type of psychiatric illness. Formerly the condition was called neurasthenia. A modern euphamism is "chronic fatigue syndrome," with the implication that it represents the lingering effects of a viral infection. Here mental fatigue... is combined with physical fatigue and poor endurance and is regularly associated with other symptoms such as headaches, muscle aches (fibromyalgia), irritability, insomnia, palpitation, trembling, feelings of hopelessness, etc. so that the condition comes to be recognized for what it usually is- anxiety neurosis or, most frequently, depression. Actually, this constellation of symptoms is no more frequent after viral infection than in the general population. The symptom complex has been observed in war veterans... especially if compensation is an issue.

Shame on You

I just did, Justin. Thanks for the link. Amazingly, neurologists have on the whole been among the most hostile groups of practitioners towards ME/CFS, sometimes siding with the most extreme of the 'psychologizers'. Not sure why.